• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제27권1호
• /
• pp.49-74
• /
• 2018

Generally, beam-column joints are taken into account as rigid in assessment of seismic performance of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Experimental and numerical studies have proved that ignoring nonlinearities in the joint core might crucially affect seismic performance of RC structures. On the other hand, to improve seismic behaviour of such structures, several strengthening techniques of beam-column joints have been studied and adopted in practical applications. Among these strengthening techniques, the application of FRP materials has extensively increased, especially in case of exterior RC beam-column joints. In current paper, to simulate the inelastic response in the core of RC beam-column joints strengthened by FRP sheets, a practical joint model has been proposed so that the effect of FRP sheets on characteristics of an RC joint were considered in principal tensile stress-joint rotation relations. To determine these relations, a combination of experimental results and a mechanically-based model has been developed. To verify the proposed model, it was applied to experimental specimens available in the literature. Results revealed that the model could predict inelastic response of as-built and FRP strengthened joints with reasonable precision. The simple analytic procedure and the use of experimentally computed parameters would make the model sufficiently suitable for practical applications.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• 제24권3호
• /
• pp.323-337
• /
• 2017

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive experimental investigation on the compressive behaviour of steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) stub columns with active and passive confinement. To create active confinement in STCC columns, an innovative technique is used in which steel tube is laterally pre-tensioned while the concrete core is simultaneously pre-compressed by applying pressure on fresh concrete. A total of 135 STCC specimens with active and passive confinement are tested under axial compression load and their compressive strength, ultimate strain capacity, axial and lateral stress-strain curves and failure mode are evaluated. The test variables include concrete compressive strength, outer diameter to wall thickness ratio of steel tube and prestressing level. It is shown that applying active confinement on STCC specimens can considerably improve their mechanical properties. However, applying higher prestressing levels and keeping the applied pressure for a long time do not considerably affect the mechanical properties of actively confined specimens. Based on the results of this study, new empirical equations are proposed to estimate the axial strength and ultimate strain capacity of STCC stub columns with active and passive confinement.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제19권5호
• /
• pp.477-488
• /
• 2017

In this paper, an innovative technique for finite element (FE) modeling of steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) columns with active confinement under axial compressive loading is presented. In this method, a new constitutive model for the stress-strain relationship of actively-confined concrete is proposed. In total, 14 series of experimental STCC stub columns having active confinement were modeled using the ABAQUS software. The results obtained from the 3D model including the compressive strength at the initial peak point and failure point, as well as the axial and lateral stress-strain curves were compared with the experimental results to verify the accuracy of the 3D model. It was found that there existed a good agreement between them. A parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of the concrete compressive strength, steel tube wall thickness, and pre-stressing level on the behavior of STCC columns with active confinement. The results indicated that increasing the concrete core's compressive strength leads to an increase in the compressive strength of the active composite column as well as its earlier failure. Furthermore, a reduction in the tube external diameter-to-wall thickness ratio affects the axial stress-strain curve and the confining pressure, while increasing the pre-stressing level has a negligible effect on the two.

• Advances in concrete construction
• /
• 제9권2호
• /
• pp.161-171
• /
• 2020

In this paper, an experimental study was conducted on the compressive behavior of steel tube confined concrete (STCC) and concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) columns with active and passive confinement. To create active confinement in the STCC and CFST specimens, an innovative method was used in this study, in which by applying pressure on the fresh concrete, the steel tube was laterally pretensioned and the concrete core was compressed simultaneously. Of the benefits of this technique are improving the composite column behavior, without the use of additives and without the need for vibration, and achieving high prestressing levels. To achieve lower and higher prestressing levels, short and long term pressures were applied to the specimens, respectively. Nineteen STCC and CFST specimens in three groups of passive, short-term active, and long-term active confinement were subjected to axial compression, and their mechanical properties including the compressive strength, modulus of elasticity and axial strain were evaluated. The results showed that the proposed method of prestressing the STCC columns led to a significant increase in the compressive strength (about 60%), initial modulus of elasticity (about 130%) as well as a significant reduction in the axial strain (about 45%). In the CFST columns, the prestressing led to a considerable increase in the compressive strength, a small effect on the initial and secant modulus of elasticity and an increase in the axial strain (about 55%). Moreover, increased prestressing levels negligibly affected the compressive strength of STCCs and CFSTs but slightly increased the elastic modulus of STCCs and significantly decreased that of CFSTs.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
• /
• 제35권1_2호
• /
• pp.121-130
• /
• 2017

This study is concerned with the existence of positive solution for the following nonlinear elliptic system $$\{-M_1(\int_{\Omega}{\mid}x{\mid}^{-ap}{\mid}{\nabla}u{\mid}^pdx)div({\mid}x{\mid}^{-ap}{\mid}{\nabla}u{\mid}^{p-2}{\nabla}u)\\{\hfill{120}}={\mid}x{\mid}^{-(a+1)p+c_1}\({\alpha}_1A_1(x)f(v)+{\beta}_1B_1(x)h(u)\),\;x{\in}{\Omega},\\-M_2(\int_{\Omega}{\mid}x{\mid}^{-bq}{\mid}{\nabla}v{\mid}^qdx)div({\mid}x{\mid}^{-bq}{\mid}{\nabla}v{\mid}^{q-2}{\nabla}v)\\{\hfill{120}}={\mid}x{\mid}^{-(b+1)q+c_2}\({\alpha}_2A_2(x)g(u)+{\beta}_2B_2(x)k(v)\),\;x{\in}{\Omega},\\{u=v=0,\;x{\in}{\partial}{\Omega},$$ where ${\Omega}$ is a bounded smooth domain of ${\mathbb{R}}^N$ with $0{\in}{\Omega}$, 1 < p, q < N, $0{\leq}a$ < $\frac{N-p}{p}$, $0{\leq}b$ < $\frac{N-q}{q}$ and ${\alpha}_i,{\beta}_i,c_i$ are positive parameters. Here $M_i,A_i,B_i,f,g,h,k$ are continuous functions and we discuss the existence of positive solution when they satisfy certain additional conditions. Our approach is based on the sub and super solutions method.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제20권4호
• /
• pp.469-481
• /
• 2017

This paper aims to analytically investigate the effect of shear stress at the concrete-steel interface on the mechanical behavior of the circular steel tube-confined concrete (STCC) stub columns with active and passive confinement subjected to axial compression. Nonlinear 3D finite element models divided into the four groups, i.e. circumferential-grooved, talc-coated, lubricated, and normal groups, with active and passive confinement were developed. An innovative method was used to simulate the actively-confined specimens, and then, the results of the finite element models were compared with those of the experiments previously conducted by the authors. It was revealed that both the predicted peak compressive strength and stress-strain curves have good agreement with the corresponding values measured for the confined columns. Then, the mechanical properties of the active and passive specimens such as the concrete-steel interaction, longitudinal and hoop stresses of the steel tube, confining pressure applied to the concrete core, and compressive stress-strain curves were analyzed. Furthermore, a parametric study was performed to explore the effects of the concrete compressive strength, steel tube diameter-to-wall thickness ratio, and prestressing level on the compressive behavior of the STCC columns. The results indicate that reducing or removing the interfacial shear stress in the active and passive specimens leads to an increase in the hoop stress and confining pressure, while the longitudinal stress along the steel tube height experiences a decrease. Moreover, prestressing via the presented method is capable of improving the compressive behavior of STCC columns.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제24권1호
• /
• pp.19-35
• /
• 2019

In this paper, the effect of the type and amount of fibers on the physicomechanical properties of concrete containing fine recycled refractory brick (RRB) and natural aggregate subjected to elevated temperatures was investigated. For this purpose, forta-ferro (FF), polypropylene (PP), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers with the volume fractions of 0, 0.25, and 0.5%, as well as steel fibers with the volume fractions of 0, 0.75, and 1.5% were used in the concrete containing RRB fine aggregate replacing natural sand by 0 and 100%. In total, 162 concrete specimens from 18 different mix designs were prepared and tested in the temperature groups of 23, 400, and $800^{\circ}C$. After experiencing heat, the concrete properties including the compressive strength, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), weight loss, and surface appearance were evaluated and compared with the corresponding results of the reference (unheated) specimens. The results show that using RRB fine aggregate replacing natural fine aggregate by 100% led to an increase in the concrete compressive strength in almost all the mixes, and only in the PVA-containing mixes a decrease in strength was observed. Furthermore, UPV values at $800^{\circ}C$ for all the concrete mixes containing RRB fine aggregate were above those of the natural aggregate concrete specimens. Finally, regarding the compressive strength and UPV results, steel fibers demonstrated a better performance relative to other fiber types.

• Current Applied Physics
• /
• 제18권12호
• /
• pp.1546-1552
• /
• 2018

The polymer nanocomposite as a gate dielectric film was prepared via sol-gel method. The formation of crosslinked structure among nanofillers and polymer matrix was proved by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Differential thermal analysis (DTA) results showed significant increase in the thermal stability of the nanocomposite with respect to that of pure polymer. The nanocomposite films deposited on the p- and n-type Si substrates formed very smooth surface with rms roughness of 0.045 and 0.058 nm respectively. Deconvoluted $Si_{2s}$ spectra revealed the domination of the Si-OH hydrogen bonds and Si-O-Si covalence bonds in the structure of the nanocomposite film deposited on the p- and n-type Si semiconductor layers respectively. The fabricated n-channel field-effect-transistor (FET) showed the low threshold voltage and leakage currents because of the stronger connection between the nanocomposite and n-type Si substrate. Whereas, dominated hydroxyl groups in the nanocomposite dielectric film deposited on the p-type Si substrate increased trap states in the interface, led to the drop of FET operation.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• 제33권3호
• /
• pp.309-324
• /
• 2024

Internal curing, a widely used method for mitigating early-age shrinkage in concrete, also offers notable advantages for concrete durability. This paper explores the potential of internal curing by partial replacement of sand with fine lightweight aggregate for enhancing the behavior of high-performance concrete at elevated temperatures. Such a technique may prove economical and safe for the construction of skyscrapers, where explosive spalling of high-performance concrete in fire is a potential hazard. To reach this aim, the physico-mechanical features of internally cured high-strength concrete specimens, including mass loss, compressive strength, strain at peak stress, modulus of elasticity, stress-strain curve, toughness, and flexural strength, were investigated under different temperature exposures; and to predict some of these mechanical properties, a number of equations were proposed. Based on the experimental results, an advanced stress-strain model was proposed for internally cured high-performance concrete at different temperature levels, the results of which agreed well with the test data. It was observed that the replacement of 10% of sand with pre-wetted fine lightweight expanded clay aggregate (LECA) not only did not reduce the compressive strength at ambient temperature, but also prevented explosive spalling and could retain 20% of its ambient compressive strength after heating up to 800℃. It was then concluded that internal curing is an excellent method to enhance the performance of high-strength concrete at elevated temperatures.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
• /
• 제14권1호
• /
• pp.71-80
• /
• 2007

The present paper investigates estimation of a scale parameter of a gamma distribution using a loss function that reflects both goodness of fit and precision of estimation. The Bayes and empirical Bayes estimators rotative to balanced loss functions (BLFs) are derived and optimality of some estimators are studied.